TV Playback Appearance - DVD versus VHS Tape

[Old1]

Hi guys.

I am converting some old VHS PAL tapes to DVD, and have noticed that the TV picture from the DVD looks different to the TV picture obtained when playing the original tape.

I am using the AV-> DV input on a Sony HCR-40E camcorder to capture the VHS tapes to miniDV format, using the S-VHS output from my VCR. For stuff I want to archive, I'm capturing (recording) to DV tape initially, then transferring to PC via firewire using Scenalyzer Live. For other stuff, I'm using direct pass through to PC.

For encoding to MPEG-2, I am frameserving through Avisynth 2.5 to CCE 2.5, using one colour transformation, ConvertToYV12(for Convolution3D), and with the luma range in CCE set to the default 16-235. The .mpv file is then muxed with the sound and the DVD authored.

When I play the recorded DV tape to TV from the camera, the picture looks very similar to the original VHS tape. However, when I play the encoded DVD on TV the colours are washed-out (flattened?), and contrast is poor. Using ColorYUV(levels="PC->TV") in the script does not help. Setting the luma range in CCE to 0-255 give some improvement but its still quite different. I played around with Tweak and Levels to try and correct this, and the best match I get is using Levels(15, 1, 255, 0, 255) in combination with Tweak(sat=1.05). I am happy with the results, but is this sort of adjustment the "right" way to be addressing this problem?. Any advice is appreciated.

Old1
:)

[DSP8000]

Do you capture to huffyuv or any other codec?
Try MainConcept DV Codec for the capture.
And AFAIK, CCE native support its not YV12.
Just use
ConvertToYUY2()
Convolution3D(xxxxxxxxxxxx)
ColorYUV(levels="PC->TV")
The MC DV Codec gives more colour & contrast(to my eyes) than huffyuv,I'm :( waiting for sh0dan to do some bug fixing to huffyuv :p.
Also try to do the same encode with similar or same script with Canopus ProCoder (I bet you'll see difference :p)

DSP8000

[Old1]

@DSP8000

Thanks for your response. I am capturing via the camera to Sony DV format, which obviously I cannot change. So far, CCE has not complained about the YV12 colourspace. I get the same result encoding with either the Sony or Panasonic DV codec installed. I will try the MC codec.

Old1

[Mug Funky]

sony/panasonic DV codecs will scale colours to TV range. try use FFDshow to decode DV (it can be set to do this for Video for Windows as well).

this will deliver YV12 colour to avisynth, where sony/panasonic (they're the same codec really) will convert to RGB24. this will speed things up and blur things less.

hopefully this will help you :)

[Old1]

Thanks Meg Funky, I will give this a try. Am I right in thinking that FFDshow has not been develped for a couple of years?. The current download is dated 2002.

Also, FYI, Virtualdub tells me that my DV AVI file (with an AVS >yv12 transform) is being decoded by DivX 5.1. Is this correct?.

Old1
:)

[Mug Funky]

there's new builds for ffdshow (wait a tic, i'll find athos' site)

oh, and btw it's mug funky :) meg is a good friend of mine, but not nearly as funky :rolleyes:

this was built a few days ago... i haven't actually tried it yet

http://athos.leffe.dnsalias.com/ffdshow-20040508.exe

i'd bookmark the page it came from - it's easy to lose this link.

[edit]

divx 5.11? ouch. i'd go look in your registry and see what's going on there :confused:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32

you'll find your fourCC mappings there. DV is usually "DVSD", but is sometimes "CDVC" if you've used mainconcept or canopus.

[echooff]

I've been using the new build. Works great.


Don't know meg. :D He might be funky:rolleyes:

[esby]

The MC DV Codec gives more colour & contrast(to my eyes) than huffyuv,I'm waiting for sh0dan to do some bug fixing to huffyuv .

That might be normal, since as tv levelling comes into play, as Mug' ;) said.
But if i'm not wrong, DV is not lossless, meaning you'll have difference between an huffyuv(lossless) and a DV capture...(lowsy)
but of acceptable quality for editing...

esby

[vinetu]

Also, FYI, Virtualdub tells me that my DV AVI file (with an AVS >yv12 transform) is being decoded by DivX 5.1. Is this correct?.

Yes Old1 ,this is correct!
The output from your avs (avisynth) is in YV12 format, so
it is handled by DivX 5.1 VFW codec in your case.